The latter stages of last season saw Charnock suffer a series of injuries to players that had a serious effect on results and so far this season the problems have continued. Injuries to defenders have been particularly decisive, Spencer Bibby has only had 36 minutes on the pitch this season, Ashley Young has been out for a month and will not be returning in the near future and James Walker hobbled off, for the second time this season, at Irlam last Saturday and faces a spell on the side lines. Not since the first game of the season have Charnock kept a clean sheet. It appears that the Villagers have to rely upon scoring more goals than they concede to win the points in the present circumstances and consequently this was a high scoring game against Padiham under the Mossie Park lights.

It was another highly entertaining match with the teams locked at 2-2 at the interval. Charnock took the lead early in the second half but conceded two goals from free kicks in two minutes to see the game swing the visitors’ way and as Charnock chased an equaliser, Padiham broke deep into added time, to add a fifth goal.

With James Walker joining the injured list, Ryan Schofield came in at the back, the only other change was a start for Alex Ralph in place of the missing Jake Higham. On the substitutes bench was Mark Adams, who has been absent since November last year with health problems, and new signing Troy Carsley from Fulwood Amateurs.

It was a mild evening and 119 paid for admission. Charnock kicked off playing towards the Mawdesley Plantation end. It was Padiham who set the early, high tempo of the game and they largely dominated the opening minutes, two crosses from the right caused problems for Charnock, Ross O’Farrell dealing with the first and the second was blocked at the expense of a corner. A back pass from Schofield saw Cheetham’s kick rebound back off a Padiham player to, luckily, roll past a post. Another right wing cross saw O’Neill hit a powerful volley past Cheetham to give the visitors an early lead. There was 11 minutes on the clock before we saw the first meaningful attack from the Villagers with Regan streaking down the right and winning a corner. Charnock continued to struggle on the left of their defence and another right wing cross caused problems, after Woods failed to clear O’Farrell headed a goal bound shot over the bar. On 15 minutes Regan fed Grimshaw on the right and his cross found Darcy and his powerful drive was blocked. A Ralph free kick saw a Fairhurst header fly just beyond the back post as Charnock, at last, had a spell of attacking football. Regan had the beating of Taylor at left back and was the focal point of most of the home attacks. On 32 minutes a Regan cross was falling for Grimshaw before the head of James Dean intervened. Charnock equalised on 35 minutes, Grimshaw was fouled and the free kick saw FAIRHURST have two shots, the first was blocked but the second found the net just inside the post. A minute later another break down the right saw Padiham fail to take advantage because the cross went behind their attackers. On 41 minutes Woods hit a delightful long pass from deep in his own half to put Ralph away down the right, he cut inside and hit a rising shot just over the bar. The home defence opened up again on 42 minutes as Padiham launched an attack with pace and lack of defensive numbers saw O’Neill go clear to beat Cheetham and score his second goal of the night. There was then a rather controversial decision from the referee he pointed to the spot when Regan’s centre apparently hit the raised arm of Hargreaves, it was based upon the player’s arm being above his head and that he was in the penalty area. No VAR at this level so the penalty stood and ASHLEY STOTT scored from the spot on 44 minutes. Charnock could have taken the lead before the interval when they broke from a Padiham corner. Stott played Darcy clear onto the edge of the area and with the keeper committed it only required a decent contact on the ball but Callum already struggling to keep his balance could only hit the shot wide. Charnock were possibly fortunate to be level at the interval because the visitors had produced an excellent performance in the first half.

Padiham came out and dominated the opening stages of the second half. Ryan Schofield conceded a free kick about 25 yards out but Fowler’s effort was over the bar. In a rare attack on 53 minutes a free kick from deep saw a Grimshaw header fall to Darcy on the right of the goal but his snatched volley was over the bar. A good chance but it takes experience and patience to allow the ball to drop sufficiently for a controlled shot. Despite being on the back foot for most of the half so far, Charnock took the lead on 58 minutes once again Regan got to the bye-line on the right and GRIMSHAW unmarked turn his cross into the net. Padiham came back with a long pass finding O’Neill just outside the area on the left and he took the ball down excellently. Cheetham came out and found himself in no-man’s land but having controlled the ball O’Neill immediately knocked it into the hands of a grateful goalkeeper. On 64 minutes Troy Carsley came on, to make his debut, replacing Ryan Schofield. Joe Noblet then replaced Nathan Fairhurst. Charnock, having held the lead for eight minutes, saw the match slip from their grasp in two fateful minutes because of two goalkeeping errors. On 66 minutes Sanders was booked for a foul almost on the halfway line and when the free kick was delivered Cheetham came out but failed to hang onto the ball and Zuqoli fired into the empty goal. Two minutes later a free kick from just inside the Padiham half saw Cheetham come out again and this time he totally missed the ball and it bounced into the net. From leading 3-2 Charnock were now losing 4-3. Charnock, as usual, did not lose heart and spent the remaining minutes of the game chasing an equaliser. A right wing corner saw Stott have his shot cleared off the line and Joe Noblet hit a shot just wide. Oliver Oxley came on for Stott on 80 minutes. A Noblet left wing corner on 85 minutes saw Grimshaw running across the area direct his header beyond the far post. In the sixth minute of added time Charnock’s total commitment to attack saw Padiham break clear and Fowler made the result more emphatic.

There is no doubt that Padiham’s performance had been impressive and they thoroughly deserved their win. This was Charnock’s third home defeat on the run mainly due to their inability to hold onto leads.

Charnock now face three away fixtures starting with Winsford United at the St Luke’s Barton Stadium on Saturday 6th October and on the following Saturday they make the trip across the Pennines to Sheffield to meet play Hallam, one of the oldest clubs in the country, in the Buildbase FA Vase. Both games kick off a 3.00pm. On Wednesday 17th October Charnock travel to Litherland REMYCA kick off 7.45pm.